Simply hugs
by IrinaIanson
Summary: She had given herself up to the Grounders but the Grounders had sent her back. Now, Clarke is forced to deal with both the pain of loosing Finn and the guilt she feels as she starts to fall for Bellamy.
1. Chapter 1

She ran towards him at full speed, only stoping when she felt her body crashing into his. This time, he didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around her, holding her as close as he could.

She was safe.

When the blond-haired girl finally pulled away, her flushed cheeks showed deep red signs of embarrassment. She straightened her back and took in a rasped breath.

He smirked, trying to hide the subtle change of color in his own olive cheeks.

"Welcome home, princess." He said, as he moved to the side, letting her explore. She rolled her eyes at his still present smirk but said nothing. Instead, a sudden darkness clouded her blue eyes.

She was thinking of Finn.

"Where's Finn?" Clarke regretted asking him that the moment the words left her lips. But by then it was too late.

For the first second, Bellamy looked taken aback by the sudden change. He recovered quickly from the shock. Clarke had sent herself to die but the Grounders sent her back, very much alive. Of course, she was now worried sick about Finn.

"Clarke..." Bellamy started. Then stopped. He never called her by her first name, never made the mistake unless in the middle of a crisis. But this one had been solved.

Clarke's bright eyes stared into Bellamy's dark ones as she tried to get the answers from his face. She knew him, knew what he was thinking even if he wasn't talking about it.

"He's gone, isn't he?' She asked, her voice trembling so badly it was painful to even listen to it. If he answered that question, Bellamy knew what was going to happen.

"Yes."

The next few seconds Clarke didn't know whether she should hide her tears from him or just cry. She hadn't noticed until then that night had fallen and no one else but the guards protecting the camp. She may had cried in front of Bellamy but she wasn't going to cry in front of strangers. So she blinked away the tears that had formed.

"Thanks." She said in a timid voice, before hurrying inside.

She broke down in some isolated room she came across, first punching the wall repeatedly, angry tears clearing her dirty face. But her knuckles soon started to bleed and common sense found its way to her again. It wasn't going to help him if she was bloody and crying. She needed a plan, a solid, flawlessly executed plan.

Clarke curled into a ball and started thinking, hot tears still running down her face. There were guards positioned at every entrance of the Grounders' camp. At least, in broad daylight. Clarke wondered how many were at night.

Probably more.

Two guards at every entrance.

They could take two down easily, but without the others hearing? And what about after they got Finn, supposing of course that they managed to do that. It would be a strict declaration of war, and war with the Grounders wasn't something Clarke found appealing.

But if she replaced him? She could lie, say that he ran back, or that he killed himself. She could say that he fell off a cliff and his body could never be retreated.

She doubted that would work.

She could fake his death, paint him in blood and hope the Grounders would be tricked.

She could...

There had to be something she could do.

He watched her run inside, he watched the tears forming in her eyes, clouding her view. She was going to try and figure out a plan.

He should've told her that he gave himself up just a little after Clarke did. Should've told her that by now, he was probably already dead.

He should've told her all this but simply didn't have the heart to do so. It was agony to watch her out of all people crumble down. And over a cheating, murderous bastard.

He didn't like Finn, that wasn't a secret and pushing his own feelings aside, he still couldn't see why Clarke was so hooked up on him.

It didn't matter at that moment.

Instead of dwelling any further on the matter, Bellamy decided to follow Clarke inside, and make sure she was alright. He also had to tell her about Finn.

He first looked for her in her room. She wasn't there and, luckily for him, her mother wasn't there either. He walked to the main room, where he did meet her mother.

"Clarke is back." He told the woman, trying both to be decently respectful and hide his worries. Her mother's eyes lit up the instant she heard her daughter's name and Bellamy couldn't help but think how much she looked like Clarke in that moment.

She nodded.

"Where is she?"

He didn't want to tell her he didn't know.

"Somewhere in the camp. She needed some time."

Some people insist that girls' mothers know exactly when you are interested in their girl. And at that moment, when Abigail Griffin smiled at him, Bellamy could've sworn those people were damn right. He shook that feeling off.

"You don't know where she is, do you?" Griffin asked him, probably already guessing his answer.

He shook his head anyway.

"Well, we'd better find her."

They parted ways to cover more space, and Bellamy didn't waste any time.

Clarke had given up on a solution to save Finn once she figured out that if the Grounders hadn't killed her nor come after her people, it obviously meant they had received what they wanted. As much as she wanted to deny it, needed it to be false, planning to do something reckless and idiotic and deadly, she knew it would be fruitless.

Finn was dead, that was the truth.

He couldn't find her anywhere. Not in any tent or room in the whole camp. What if she had gone alone to the Grounders?

She cried as she struggled to keep his memory as close to her heart as she could. He had died thinking she hated him.

He kept walking, checking and rechecking every corner.

She had loved him.

He searched all night for a sign, a noise that could indicate where Clarke was.

She finally cried herself to sleep.

When the sun rose above the Jaha Camp, Bellamy was still looking for Clarke but by now, his eyes, half open, were always directed towards the woods. He had run into Abigail several times throughout the night, and they had both parted again with a simple distressed look. Neither of them wanted to form a search party because they were both afraid of what would happen to the blonde girl after she was found.

When morning came, Abigail sent Bellamy to bed. He went to talk to the rest of the 100 that were not dead nor in Mount Weather.

They were terribly few.

"So Clarke disappeared?" Raven asked. Her eyes were as read as her jacket, but her voice was strong.

"Yes." Bellamy answered. He had insisted on discussing outside, in case the blonde suddenly decided to make her appearance.

"So we go after her." Octavia said, giving Lincoln a subtle look. Lincoln had no choice but to agree.

"But, wouldn't that mean war?" Mel asked, a terrified look on her face.

Bellamy wanted to say he didn't care. He wanted to say that it did not matter for it was Clarke they were talking about.

But he couldn't say those things.

"Ok, so we need a plan." Raven concluded, determining a long moment of silence.

The girl, however, spoke again soon enough.

"What if she just wanted to be alone?" There were other words hidden between the lines. Words like _I did the same _and_ I don't blame her. _

"I searched everywhere." Bellamy answered, ignoring Raven's surprised look and his sister's smirk.

Clarke woke up with a pounding headache.

Actually, it felt more like someone had cut her head into two.

It was a horrible pain to endure, above her heartache.

But the blonde got up anyway, brushing dust off her trousers and trying to make her hair look respectable. Then she scanned the room she was in swiftly, forcing herself to remember the night before. All around stood metallic shelves, filled with all kinds of supplies. Some of the products were thrown on the ground and Clarke guessed that was her fault. She tried to put some back up, though the whole job was time consuming. She'd have rather talked with her friends than rearrange useless supplies.

She promised she would go back later to fix the damage and exited the small cupboard.

Suddenly, she wondered how the heck she found that room. It was so well hidden that she was absolutely sure in the dead of the night, if she were in her right mind, she would pass right by it.

Nice thinking, to hide the source.

As she walked out, the sun hit her full force, momentarily blinding her. Judging by its position, it must have been almost midday.

How much had she slept?

"I think we ought to give you glasses." Octavia teased, pointing to a figure just exiting the station.

Bellamy followed the direction his sister was pointing at, his breath catching in his throat as he saw the person of interest.

Clarke Griffin was standing within the safe boundaries of the camp. He smiled in relief and resisted the urge to run towards her, to hold her tightly against him.

Octavia nudge him playfully, before calling out to Clarke.

"Hey." The blonde greeted them, avoiding at all costs eye contact with a specific brown-haired. He, however, noticed the similarities between Clarke and Raven's eyes. Both had a mix between purple, from the sleepless night, and red, from all the crying conturing their eyes.

Bellamy wasn't the only one to notice this thing as Octavia gave them both an easy smile. It had been her eyes not long ago that had looked like that.

Clarke also gave Raven a subtle smile, which Raven replied to. Right then, it was their small moment of mutual understanding .

"Do we have any news?" Clarke asked, her voice so tough, it surprised everyone.

The kids talked about Mount Weather next, trying to pretend that nothing was different, acting as if nothing had happened and the main thought on their mind was still how to get everyone else out.

By the time the night fell, Bellamy was as tired as ever and was no longer thinking straight. The rest of them, though a bit more freshened up, were just about as incapable as him. Clarke gave an involuntary yawn, making everyone else subconsciously do the same.

"I think that's enough for today." She said, noticing everyone else's state. She looked up at Bellamy only to notice his dark eyes were no longer focusing.

It was definitely enough.

"How are you feeling, Princess?" Bellamy was following her as she made her way inside the station.

For a second, she considered lying.

"Like crap."

He smiled at her honesty.

"Don't mock me." She threatened immediately as she made her way to the closet.

"I wasn't mocking you, Princess."

They had reached the cupboard.

"What are we doing here?" He asked, confused, as Clarke opened the door and stepped inside the small room.

He did not want to jump to conclusions but his tired brain couldn't think of too many reasons why.

"I" She started, making a short pause to put something back on a shelf. Bellamy peaked around. "Am going to fix the mess I've made. You, I don't know."

She didn't want to ask for help for one simple reason: the room reflected perfectly the state she had been in last night.

Bellamy, on the other hand, wanted nothing more than to help. So without saying a word, he entered the minuscule room as well, joining Clarke who had already started cleaning up. He looked around: the room was a mess, reminding him of pictures he saw when he had been a kid of tornadoes.

"What happened in here?" He asked, though he already knew the answer.

She said nothing about the subject. Actually, she ignored him completely as they both started cleaning up.

"You must have been really annoyed." He said, when the last bottle of a strange liquid was finally put into place.

"Shut up." She answered, in mocked annoyance.

It wasn't that she didn't appreciate his help because she did. It saved her at least half the time she would have spent if it weren't for him. But she didn't need him asking questions about what she did when she ran away the night before.

"It must be horrible." He finally said, just as the blonde girl was getting ready to go. She looked into his big, black eyes, surprised at how caring they looked.

He stared right back into those beautiful blue pools of feelings. Then, without being able to control it, his gaze flickered for just a second down, at her full, rosy lips. He forced his eyes back up but it was too late for her not to notice.

She couldn't do that just yet. It felt too soon, like she were betraying Finn. On the other hand, she had wanted that far before Finn had died.

It still felt wrong.

Instead of kissing her, Bellamy put his strong arms around her, wrapping her as close to him as he could. And Clarke let herself soften, feeling as safe as she used to feel, long ago when her dad was still alive and nothing ever went wrong.

Alright guys! I hope you enjoyed reading!

**This was initially supposed to be a one-shot but after rereading I found myself full of ideas about how to continue. So it's up to you to decide the faith of this story!**

**So please, tell me if you are interested or not :-) **


	2. Chapter 2

By the next morning, Clarke was a mass of emotions. The memory of Bellamy's arms still lingered upon her, clouding any rational thought she might have had. There had been no screams from the Grounders' camp which could only mean Finn had died easily, painlessly.

As Clarke had implored Lexa when they sent her away.

She had to be honest, she never expected the commander to actually listen to her but at that stage of the game, begging seemed like the only option.

Of course, it was only hope that kept her so optimistic about Finn's death. For all she knew, he could have hung his head high while they tortured him in ways unimaginable to a rational human being. The mere thought brought tears to Clarke's blue eyes and she blinked them away forcefully.

On top of everything, Raven was absolutely angry with her, and the blonde didn't even know why exactly. What could she have done, to save Finn's life?

Because sure as hell she suffered just as much as Raven did, no matter how long she knew Finn.

That didn't stop Clarke from feeling a horrible pang of unexplainable guiltiness. It was something horrible that made her want to vomit her guts out.

The alarm went off.

Her mind still on Finn, Clarke hurried to the gates, already knowing who the uninvited visitors were. In front of a few muscular men stood Lexa, high up on a horse, her back straight and her eyes vicious.

The broken girl swallowed agitated, trying to calm her nerves down. What did this woman want more from them? Maybe she had changed her mind, Clarke thought, and was now ready to take her as well.

Somewhere in the chaos that had created, Bellamy ended up next to her, so close she could almost hear his heartbeat rhythmically moving along with hers.

She gulped and forced her mind to focus, forced her legs to get her to the opening gate.

"What do you want?"

Any form of politeness or fake respect was gone from Clarke's voice, but the strength still made a powerful impact. The commander's icy eyes didn't soften as she gave the blonde girl before her a mere, unimpressed look.

"We want nothing more but to bring the body of one who had killed many of our own and to discuss further the transformation of the Reapers."

Clarke barely gave any notice to the second part of that sentence as she hurried towards the back of this riot, towards the place she though she had caught a glimpse of a body. Someone was hot on her heels but she didn't bother to find out who.

Clarke's heart froze completely.

Before her very eyes stood Finn's dead body, covered in blood.

Clarke's heart broke completely just as she could feel the world coming down onto her. She started shaking so badly, so horribly she was afraid she was going to crumble.

She didn't. Her whole body was too numb for it.

Somewhere far in the distance came a piercing scream of grief as Raven let herself yell the pain away, something Clarke couldn't find herself able to do.

She was completely frozen into place.

In the end, she had no idea who carried her away from the scene or who took Finn's body from the Grounders. All she knew was that a few hours later she found herself wrapped in blankets in the small room her mother used for healing.

Somewhere in the room, Raven was there as well.

Clarke could hear her muffled cries and as she dared look around, she met those brown, red on the edges eyes.

The blue eyed girl could feel the tears threatening to come again just at the sight of this girl who was going through the exact same thing she was.

And God, was it horrible.

There was a moment when Clarke considered saying something but words seemed to fail her. Her mouth would simply refuse to move and even if it did, what was there to say?

She tried instead to smile but that simple task was as much of a failure as the first.

In the end, she resigned herself to being quiet.

The silence was deafening, and when, finally, someone stepped in, Clarke could not be more glad. Until she actually saw the person coming to rescue her from this horrible state she found herself in.

"Bell-" His whole name couldn't be said in a bare whisper that came out of her mouth. The blonde discovered her voice was not to be trusted. Apparently, Raven could not even dare to speak.

"Hey, Princess." His smile was sweet and caring, almost resembling the ones he sometimes threw Octavia. There was something else in that smile, as well and when Clarke couldn't point it out, she found herself convinced it was pity.

She hated pity.

There was silence once again, and Clarke knew she would be going crazy if no one said anything any time soon.

"What's been happening outside?" She meant to sound strong and confident. Unhurt. She failed miserably.

"Nothing spectacular. Everyone is still talking, mainly. I also thought you two should know, Griffin-" Bellamy made a pause, unsure whether he should be calling Clarke's mother so impolitely in front of her girl but decided the blonde wouldn't care. "said Finn had died immediately. No pain, really."

He was horrible at giving news but even more dreadful at comforting words and he knew that. His announcement had sounded like an awkward conversation with a stranger.

None of the girls were strangers to him, though he wasn't ashamed to say that he cared about one more than another.

He advanced towards Clarke, cautiously as not to disrupt her. The last thing he wanted was to make her even sadder. Her eyes red with dried tears and her body shaking, she already looked horrible enough without one of his idiotic blunders.

"You should get some rest." He tried, though he already knew the outcome.

"We should." Said Raven.

"I'm fine." Answered Clarke at the same time.

"I doubt that you are but I'm too tired to argue with you. See you in the morning."

And with that, Raven moved her legs around ungraciously and exited the room. After the brunette girl left, Bellamy gave Clarke his full attention.

"Your mom was here earlier." He said, trying to keep an easy conversation flowing. He wasn't going to be let off the hook that easily.

"I saw his body. I saw how they tortured him." Tears were already in her eyes and Bellamy found himself unable to recall when Clarke had ever cried in front of him.

"I know."

It was a stupid thing to say. But words just were not his speciality.

Instead, he chose to repair his blunder by setting himself close to Clarke, letting one hand rest on her shoulder. He dared nothing more.

"I'm sorry." She said, in such a fragile whisper, the man sitting beside her found it unable to correlate with the tough girl he was used to.

She fell asleep in his arms, whether willingly or unwillingly, he did not know.

"They sent us here to die." Clarke exclaimed, in a heated argument with the few other kids around. They were all trying to formulate a plan to get their people out of Mount Weather.

"But we're not dead." Bellamy protested, moving his hand just a little towards Clarke's. In all means possible, he felt like an idiotic teenager with a stupid, passing crush. Only he wasn't a teenager and he was smart enough to know this was not a passing crush. It actually scared him how tactless he seemed to be around her.

"Exactly. So we have to fight." She made a pause, in which her hand flew off the table to set the map on the table. "I've been thinking. So I believe they must have at least doubled the security at those exists-" She pointed at the map. "But there is still this one-" Another point on the map drawn by her. "And I think this might be our way. It's the least accessible and I've never seen anyone come out of it."

"Fine. We get in, then what?" Asked Octavia.

"It's a big institution. They can't possibly have everyone know everyone."

"So what you're suggesting is disguise ourselves?"Mel asked, a little unsure.

"Actually, I suggest creating an ambuscade. Some of us let ourselves be found, while a few progress to getting everyone out."

"It won't work. If we reach them, what will happen then? They might not even listen to us." Bellamy stated, his hand moving once again.

"Yes, well, I trust that Jasper and Monty have figured it out by now." said Clarke, her mind obviously fussing over what would happen if they didn't agree.

"Even if they do, how the heck are we supposed to be getting them out?" Bellamy asked.

Clarke couldn't help think that it was incredible how he found every flaw in her already stupid plan. It almost felt like he was completing her plan, like he was completing her.

"That's when it gets messy."

"It already was." Octavia stated.

"Messier. The ones who were captured have to create another diversion, giving them time to escape the way I did. Meanwhile, our people could help from the outside."

There was a short pause.

"It won't work." Lincoln said, a scream almost covering his voice.

The Reapers, Clarke reminded herself.

"There are too many ifs. If they get distracted. If they agree. If they all come. You're dangling too many maybes."

And Clarke knew Octavia's boyfriend was too right for her own liking. By the looks of everyone else, it seemed that Lincoln had spoken for everyone.

With a little bit of dignity left, Clarke left the table, back arched and head high, as if the imposing position she had adjusted her body in could stop the tears from flowing.

This time, Bellamy didn't follow.

He doubted she would want him to.

So instead, he looked around the camp, trying to decide what to do next when suddenly, a silhouette caught his tired eye.

It, she was heading straight into the fence, and would have probably collided with it had she not slipped past it.

It took Bellamy one more second before he decided to follow, the lack of an any worthwhile activity combined with curiosity getting the very best of him. It was, after all, illegal to go out unauthorized.

Moving swiftly across the camp towards the place the shadow had escaped, already knowing whom it was, he tried not to attract too much attention.

As soon as he reached the forest, however, the attention was no longer something to worry about. Gripping the gun he took in case of anything, Bellamy advanced in the forest, following the brunette.

"Raven!" He yelled at the girl when his patience was lost. For someone with only one good leg, she didn't manage too bad at all.

The girl gripped the gun in her hand and turned, pointing it towards the intruder.

"Bellamy!" She exclaimed, completely surprised as the weapon went down beside her.

"You know, you would have been killed had it been a Grounder." Bellamy stated emotionlessly, leaning against a tree.

Raven rolled her eyes.

"Don't blame Clarke for this." He said, in as much casualty as he could muster.

"Of course it's about Clarke! What else would it be? You know, as much as it might surprise you, I loved him equally much!" She was loosing her temper, not that it could really be helped. Raven felt awful and no amount of anything could fix the pain and the emptiness she felt. It was horrible, more than horrible. Worse than death, she thought.

"Go to your blonde friend, Bellamy. I'm not the one you love."

It took the man completely by surprise the words spoken towards him. What was she talking about? He couldn't honestly be that obvious, could he? And if he was, how many people had noticed? Had Clarke seen?

Shaking any more questions off his mind, Bellamy headed back to the camp in almost a rush.

"Be careful." He told Raven as they parted.

His mind kept moving around the word Raven had used: love.

**Ok, so first of all, I want to apologize for my lateness. I guess, I have engaged in too many activities. **

**Second of all, don't kill me for taking it slow to mend Clarke's heart. I think she deserves the time. Not to mention I'm moving a lot faster than the writers. **

**And third of all, I hope you enjoyed this chapter :-) Feel free to give me any kind of feedback you think I deserve( positive, negative, whatever). **

**Also, anyone else really noticed how while Clarke was standing tall after she killed Finn, Raven was breaking down? I think that was a really nice demonstration of how strong Clake Griffin really is. **


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